Month: February 2007

Here, swiped from a recent Hake’s auction, is a spread from the 1932-1933 Columbia Yearbook–an amazing, amazingly-illustrated book promoting the studio’s releases. Right behind Columbia herself is an alarmingly fuzzy, spats-wearing Mickey Mouse; Scrappy, Yippy, and Krazy Kat are trailing behind. Which was logical enough given that the mouse was unquestionably the biggest cartoon star whose films were released by Columbia. (I’m not even going to comment on the other characters in the parade–no, not even the topless cannibal lady.)

But in 1932–after the yearbook was released, I’m guessing–Disney left Columbia for United Artists. (Columbia retained rights to the Disney films it had released already.) And the 1933-1934 Columbia Yearbook has a rather similar spread–but with Scrappy and Yippy promoted to the head of the parade, Krazy in close proximity, and Mickey trudging along in the middle of the pack.

This must be one of the few pieces of promotional art in animation history to show Mickey as an also-ran. And you can kind of see why Columbia would want to do that, given that A) it was still releasing old Mickey Mouse cartoons, but B) it certainly didn’t want to make Mickey Mouse out to be a bigger cartoon celebrity than Scrappy or Krazy.

One also wonders whether Miss Columbia’s flag–with the reference to the studio still leading the world in short features–is a defensive reference to Disney’s defection. Here’s that art, also from the Hake’s auction.

By 1935, Mickey was absent altogether from the Columbia Yearbook–but Scrappy and Krazy, of course, remained. That Columbia Yearbook I actually own. And I’ll show it in an upcoming post…

So it’s come to this: I’m no longer the most enterprising Scrappy scholar in my own family. Once again, my sister–with the able assistance of my brother-in-law–has made an astonishing discovery. Namely, an appearance by Scrappy (and Margy, and Yippy) in a Humphrey Bogart picture.

The film in question is 1942’s All Through the Night, and it’s got an all-star cast: Bogie is joined by Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, William “You kids get out of my kitchen” Demarest, Phil Silvers, Jane Darwell, Jackie Gleason, and others. The plot involves Damon Runyonesque types and Nazis; Bogie, playing “Gloves Donahue,” has suffered the assassination of the baker of his favorite cheesecake and has been framed for (another) murder himself. Amazing stills after the jump….